Author's Notes:

Dialogue-heavy chapter. One or two lines may have been shamelessly stolen from one of my favorite shows ever. Bonus points if you can figure out what it is and where.

Also, there's a small, underlying theme that strictly deals with drama between close friends: conflict resolution and overcoming/deferring awkwardness like sensible friends and adults; a theme inspired by true events (sans horse dildos).

Pushed this through without any major editing so do let me know if I dun' fucked up on some stuff. I'll probably catch my errors later anyhow. Enjoy!

Part XVI. Awkward

“… and this was the first picture I ever took after my return,” Luna pointed out, handing Fredrick the photograph in question. Said picture showed Luna, who looked like barely a pubescent teenager, standing tall, though somewhat uneasily, next to her much prouder older sister in the Castle’s throne room. The latter had a beaming smile and both wore formal dresses which matched their coats. Fredrick could barely stifle his giggles as he could actually read the shyness and awkwardness on Luna as if those words were actually written on her.

“Hehehe… it’s like you’re her daughter,” Fred remarked as he let a few wayward giggles escape his pursed lips. He reclined back into the support of his hands as they pressed into the ever-impossibly soft bed. Luna, however, merely furrowed her brow and shot the human an unconvincing glare.

“Indeed, laugh it out of your system,” she muttered with mock-derision. “Because I’m most certain you shan’t be laughing at this.”

Fishing another picture from the pile in between them at the culmination of her words, Luna presented Fredrick a picture that Celestia had taken of her… a photo of Luna in a perfectly-fitting one-piece swimsuit. Luna, to her credit, looked somewhat more confident but nevertheless still held her bashful, if demure expression, though she shed the adolescent image and looked much like the fully grown alicorn mare that sat across from Fredrick. The moment he laid eyes on the photo, he felt a massive wave of heat rise to his face as he glanced away. Luna had a much more playful look slapped on her muzzle as she had Fredrick right where she wanted him. She leaned forward and pressed the photo into Fred’s clearly embarrassed face, keeping her legs in a lotus position and inadvertently giving him an eyeful of cleavage through her usual lounge-wear.

“Oh?” she commented sarcastically on his ‘curious’ silence. “The court jester has nothing amusing to say this time?”

“W-What am I supposed to say to that?” Fredrick asked, gesturing to the picture… Luna looked absolutely amazing in the cyan swimsuit, at least by his standards. Then again, Luna looked wonderful in whatever she wore.

“Say that you like it…” Luna continued mocking him, pressing the picture into his face even though he refused to make eye contact with it. Luna’s shirt rode up her lower back as she leaned forward more and her contagious, teasing smile never faltered.

“It’s a n-nice picture yes,” Fredrick admitted, finding the lack of pattern in Luna’s bed comforter quite interesting at the moment. The Princess let out a short series of adorable giggles.

“Nay! Say that you like it,” Luna pressed, refusing to relent in her teasing, fluttering her eyelashes all the while. It was always a treat to get Fredrick riled up; she adored her friend.

“Alright, I like it, yes!” Fredrick acquiesced, realizing that it did not physically pain him to make such an admission in her presence. Luna knew perfectly well that Fredrick thought she was beautiful, but she liked to force it out of him. She leaned back and sat up straight, a victorious grin plastered on her muzzle.

“What do you like about it?” Luna suddenly asked.

“Oh come on!” Fredrick huffed out, throwing his hands up and eliciting a good laugh from the Lunar Princess.

“Oh very well… here’s a different picture, taken a few months before the swimsuit one,” Luna said, handing him another, this time larger, photograph. Taking it into his hand, he saw Luna and Celestia both saluting troops of Solar and Lunar Guards, though what was most prominent was the fact that both of them were dressed in ceremonial military suits, complete with the visor-cap and medals. Celestia’s suit was white while Luna’s was navy blue, and combined with their much more stoic complexions, the two certainly wore the look of high-ranking generals.

“Wow… I’ve never seen you wear that,” Fredrick mentioned, eyeing how the Princesses’ uniforms hugged both their bodies perfectly, making them look attractive even in their clearly professional stances; there was an odd sense of allure to them both.

“It is not often, but we do wear our military uniforms once in a while for special events or summits with other leaders.”

“Damn… I’m gonna need to see you in that one day, though,” Fredrick said with a hopeful edge to his tone, punctuating with a sly smirk. Luna stretched her arms upward with a yawn, her shirt riding up her midriff just a tad.

“Heh, perhaps at a later date. For now, though, I wish to lie down,” Luna added, flopping onto her back and splaying her arms wide. Fredrick took the liberty of relaxing as well, lying down while Luna willed away the pile of pictures with a touch of magic. Parallel to each other, Luna glanced to the left towards Fredrick who, in turn, looked to Luna when he felt he was being watched.

“Yes?” he asked playfully, earning another giggle from Luna.

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “I am merely enjoying your company. Thank you for putting up with my shenanigans.”

Fredrick could not curtail his own chuckling at Luna’s choice of words. That had always been one of his favorite things about her.

“What shenanigans? We’re having a good time.”

“Indeed, but even so. I do not have many friends and you were one of my first… which is why I still cherish every moment with you and do my best to never squander you as a stallion,” Luna confessed, adding a sweet smile to the mix. Fredrick was touched and he felt essentially the same way about the Lunar Alicorn lying on the parallel side of the bed.

“Well… heh,” Fredrick began uneasily as a familiar, very welcome heat was distributed to his face and chest. A gentle fluttering could be felt in his stomach as well. “I always enjoy hanging out with you, Luna. It’s been six, almost seven months already and I still never get tired of it; quite frankly, I don’t think I will either,” he admitted in kind, finally able to gather his words. Neither party was put off by the sudden change in atmosphere from fun and hilarious, to heartfelt; both parties had a kindred understanding that close friendship, in all of its glory, required a certain amount of sappiness.

A nice little reminder that the other individual still mattered to you.

Luna did not have to respond to Fred’s words with anything but a simple smile. She did, however, scoot closer to him and lay her body right up against him, their sides molding together perfectly as they had done before. Luna rested her cheek against his shoulder but this time Fredrick, by reflex, accidentally wrapped his right arm around her; quite a bit more intimate than just lying close together.

A sudden rush of hot and cold air hit his face as his eyes shot open, wondering if he, stupidly, overstepped his boundaries or took liberties he should not have. Thankfully, though, his ministrations were met with Luna turning on her left side and laying her head on his chest, allowing his hand and arm to rest against her side and back respectively in much more comfortable and natural positions.

“This is certainly new… but I may very well get used to this,” Luna cooed, shutting her eyes and subconsciously synchronizing her breathing cycle with the rhythmic rise and fall of Fredrick’s chest. He, however, breathed an internal sigh of relief.

Who knew you had any game?

The trek back to Luna’s chambers was not glorious by any means, at least on Fredrick’s part. Luna, naturally, was still having a severe amount of trouble in controlling her laughter, tears having profusely spilled down her cheeks as she failed at all attempts to stifle her maniacal side-splitting. For Fredrick, it was quite the opposite as his mind was awash with new thoughts, feelings, questions, and knowledge that he definitely could have gone without for the rest of his life. While Luna babbled nigh incoherently, Fredrick was much more stoic and in fact, quite a bit miffed at one thing in particular: Luna’s final comment.

Why would she do that?

He was not upset that she had commented on Celestia’s dildo in passing. In fact, he would probably have joined in on the laughter were it not for one tiny but still very significant detail: it was a replica of a human penis. To his knowledge, there were no other humans in Equestria, and he felt confident in that assertion because if there were, Celestia and Luna would most likely have mentioned something to him. So, he was the only human… and Celestia had a human dildo custom made. If his previous assumption held, that would mean that Celestia most likely harbored some interesting, sexual feelings towards him, especially since she could have very easily just used a standard stallion-shaped, phallic toy.

What was also worrying Fredrick, was that he had been thinking about dildo dynamics for well over ten minutes.

There goes my gay-moment ration for the week.

“And did you see the look on her fa—AAHAHAHAHAHA!” Luna tried to recall for fun, but could not contain her laughter for yet another time. Fredrick, however, was unmoved, and his thoughts were still swimming in a massive mish-mash of revelations and other thoughts that he was neither too keen on nor comfortable with having. His posture was much more slouched, his face stoic, and his lips pursed, the latter being something he did habitually when he was in a pensive mood. Moreover, his footsteps were heavier and lazier, his walk becoming much more akin to a reluctant trudge.

Eventually, the two made it back to the Lunar Quadrant of the Castle and Princess Luna, still giggling to her heart's content, opened the door to her chambers and let both of them inside. The Princess moved into the bathroom to change into more comfortable, appropriate sleep-wear—still snickering and humming to herself—and Fredrick did not bother to change at all, opting to sit on the edge of Luna’s bed. He spaced out comfortably (or uncomfortably depending on how one looked at it), and did not see Luna exit her bathroom, dressed in her usual panties and baggy, white, long-sleeve shirt. Her hair was its lifeless blue a shade lighter than her coat, as expected. She had calmed down enough to realize that Fredrick was not sharing in the ‘victory’ with her, and his visual stoicism was now clearly evident to her.

“Fredrick…?” Luna called out apprehensively. He turned and focused his gaze on her.

“Why did you comment on the dildo?”

“Ummm… it added to the prank, did it not?” Luna asked, a bemused expression befalling her face. Fredrick shook his head and looked down again, burying his face in his hands.

“Under normal circumstances it would have… but in case you didn’t notice, that toy looked distinctly human. I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure I’m the only human here.”

“Okay. And?”

“‘And??’ Do you have any idea how awkward tomorrow morning is going to be? Based on this it’s clear she holds some different sentiment towards me… clearly something we weren’t supposed to know about,” Fredrick thought out loud, getting to his feet and beginning to pace.

“Fredrick, please, you’re overreacting,” Luna urged, giggling and reaching out to him with her hands, meeting him and wrapping her arms around him from behind. “Our entire friendship was littered with awkward moments in the beginning.”

Fredrick took a deep breath as Luna nuzzled his neck comfortingly, her arms wrapped around his midsection and tracing his abdomen.

“Yeah… but we were just trying to get to know each other then, not talking about dildos. And it’s not even that. This is gonna have to be talked about in the very near future, and I see Celestia first thing in the morning, as do you when you lower the moon. What the hell do I even say to her??” Fredrick asked, raising his voice as he was mulling over the implications of everything. He was in no position nor had any desire to be caught in any form of a love-triangle. He didn’t even feel for Celestia in that way.

He felt Luna sigh against him.

“Truth be told, Fredrick… I’ve had my suspicions about Celestia for well over a couple of months,” Luna admitted, holding him somewhat tighter against her.

Fredrick’s right eyelid twitched.

“Really now? How so?” he asked curiously… at least he wasn’t having some weird delusions of grandeur in thinking that Celestia had at least some marginal interest in him, though with what he saw, it did not take much of a genius to ascertain, at least from his point of view. But, if Luna had an inkling of an idea, then why would she try to prod the embers with a final, snarky comment?

“Then why would you—”

“I… was not thinking, alright? Now I know why you would be reacting this way, in hindsight… as well, despite my foreknowledge, it is rather curious as to how she acquired such a custom toy,” Luna mused, also taking into account other factors. She realized her blunder now that the adrenaline and laughter from the whole prank had died down.

“Well, I’m pretty sure she didn’t examine me while I was nude, and I know for a fact that she was never in the room with me when I was undressing so really I’m not sure what else could…” Then something clicked in Fredrick’s head; nothing necessarily bad but it was the only way certain details could be revealed about his anatomy without outright invasion of privacy. “Luna? After our… you know… experience, did you happen to speak with Celestia in private at any point between then and today?”

Fredrick felt Luna’s breathing hitch, and a deafening silence echoed throughout the room. The human rolled his eyes and he let out his own sigh of annoyance; he definitely got his answer to that question and Luna did not even have to utter a single word.

“Luna…”

“…Maybe…”

“What did you tell her?” Fredrick asked calmly, but in the manner that a parent asks their child ‘what happened.’

“…are you mad?” Luna asked tremulously, pulling his body even flusher against her own.

“No I’m not mad, we all need to talk to at least one person about things like that, it’s natural… but I’m more curious as to what you actually told her, because that may shed light on a few things.”

“Well… maybe during some ‘bonding’ time I may have told her in an undetermined amount of detail how good you made me feel as well as the cartography of your… member,” Luna voiced meekly.

Fredrick sighed and facepalmed.

“Okay, so that answers our question perfectly. She replicated its look based on what you told her,” Fredrick reasoned. Luna nodded and accepted that as fact, though she was more relieved that Fredrick held no indignation towards her. However, with Luna’s analytical brain beginning to come back online from the shroud of emotional uncertainty, she began wondering if it was wise to jump to such conclusions that have surfaced about Celestia’s alleged feelings. Her eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips.

“While it is possible, perhaps she does not hold feelings towards you…” Luna muttered pensively, releasing Fredrick from her grasp as she righted her posture, crossing her arms under her chest and resting her chin in the crook of her right index finger and thumb. Fredrick turned on his heels and faced the deep-in-thought Princess.

“What’s an alternative?” he questioned with a hopeful inflection, silently praying that whatever Luna had to say would in fact be the case. If there was an alternative to his conclusion, it would be a much more ideal scenario, because at this point, his mind was muddled with too much conflict. As such, he was only seeing the worst possible endings of these sudden, quite unexpected turn of events.

“I told her what the experience was like as well as the general physical makeup of your member,” Luna explained so matter-of-factly, speaking about Fredrick’s penis as if it was a passage lifted from a scholarly database. “I know for a fact that both of us have certain… toys for pleasurable company when a third party cannot sate us. This is—now—common knowledge.”

“Have I ever told you that I love the way you speak about the most intimate and private things? So nonchalant,” Fredrick interjected with joking admiration.

“Perhaps she merely wanted to try something different?” Luna proposed, ignoring Fredrick’s cheeky comment. “Now that I recall, she did seem quite interested in that subject.”

“Okay, so what you’re saying…” Fredrick began reiterating Luna’s words for a better understanding, talking with both of his hands. “…is that we’re not caught in a potential love triangle of fuckery?”

“That’s the hope, at least. Either way, it will be imperative that we speak with Celestia,” Luna noted, reminding the both of them that regardless of what the actual truth of the matter was, they would have to navigate a lush, dense forest of awkwardness… a forest filled with ‘why do you have a fucktoy oddly reminiscent of my dick?’ flora and ‘this probably is gonna change some form of dynamic between us, goddammit,’ fauna.

Fredrick sighed once more, running his left hand through his hair and pinching the bridge of his nose. His posture sunk a few inches.

“But, you also said that you ‘had your suspicions.’ What did you mean by that?” Fredrick recalled Luna’s older words, still giving credence to the idea that Celestia harbored interest in him. Luna nodded in reminiscence.

“Indeed. Over the months of speaking so highly about you, she too had her own words. As time went on, there were just some ways she said things about you; certain mannerisms she actioned when mentioning something specific yet relevant to you.”

“Such as?” Fredrick urged on, rolling his hand in accompanying gesture.

“It is difficult to precisely explain, but as a small example, about two months ago, she mentioned to me how you gave her some small words of encouragement in passing. It was nothing major, but it apparently made her day… the way her eyes lit up at your mention, it was enough for me to notice but I passed it off as possibly as a figurative trick of the light. It was almost… what’s the word… dreamy.”

“Oh… yeah that could be a bit ambiguous,” Fredrick conceded. Now there seemed to be an equal weight in what was actually going on, though it was more likely, with Luna’s new information, that Celestia probably did like him to some extent greater than as a friend.

“Yes, but either way, we can only know for sure if we actually talk to her,” Luna reasserted.

“Looks like there’s no getting around that, huh?” Fredrick asked rhetorically.

“All three of us must, as you say, face the music on this. I do not believe that we can successfully ‘not address’ this.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m definitely not looking forward to the morning,” Fredrick groaned. Luna, however, wrapped him up in her embrace once more, and this time he reciprocated the gesture. The Princess’ smile turned up and her eyes became lidded as she leaned in, her mouth right next to Fredrick’s ear.

“I understand that this is a less-than-ideal circumstance for you… for all of us. I put us here in a lapse of judgement and I apologize… truly. Perhaps I can help make it up. I know you had fun in her bathroom… perhaps we may have a bit more fun in tomorrow’s preparation,” she proposed coyly. Fredrick suddenly donned an identical expression and he glanced at her face, their own sultry gazes meeting before the human pushed Luna onto her back on the bed, eliciting a rather aroused-sounding cackle from her at his sudden display of dominance. Their eyes never left each other and after a simultaneous lip-bite, Fredrick set straight to work at undressing both of them.

He made sure to collect proper comeuppance (or cumuppance) from Luna for putting them in such an unfavorable position, and Luna was more than happy to ‘pay up.’

“Alright…” Fredrick whispered to himself, beginning a small, self-directed pep-talk. “Remember, it’s only as awkward as you make it. Everything will be just fine…” he steeled himself as he reached for the golden handle of Celestia’s office door. Dressed for a typical work day in a navy button-up dress shirt and black slacks with his coat slung over his shoulder, he took one more deep breath and turned the handle. An unsatisfying click and no resistance to his force meant that the door was unlocked and beckoning him in, as it should… though Fredrick silently wished that Celestia spontaneously decided not to show up for her morning administrative duties.

As expected, upon entering fully, Fredrick spied Celestia at her desk and dressed in her conservative suit… but he could almost feel the difference in figurative atmospheric conditions. Celestia kept her arms close to her body as she rigidly scribbled on paper. Upon Fredrick’s entrance, she glanced up but immediately looked back down to her work.

“Good morning,” Celestia muttered, not making eye contact in the slightest.

“Morning…” Fredrick greeted in return, bee-lining for his desk and dropping his coat. Sitting down, he quickly got to work in pulling out the notes from his inbox, beginning the process of drawing up appropriate annotations to official documents for Celestia to look at later. Celestia and Fred were no strangers to silent work days, and they often reveled in them as they were comfortable and rejuvenating… this was not one of the typical, silent work days. This time, the silence was so maddeningly awkward, it was borderline torturous; it gradually got worse each passing minute.

I’m so fucked.

The sound of both individuals writing was much more defined, loud, and crisp than either of them remembered, and the subtle, background ticking of the grandfather clock on the side of the room opposite of Fredrick only added to the chorus of white noise. This all continued to bloat the inelegant and stiff atmosphere, all made worse with the occasional cough or clearing of a throat. Someone would have to say something sooner or later… and Fredrick was starting to think that it may be he that would break first, as he was not entirely sure how much more he could take. His stomach seemed to cartwheel and he kept combating urges to fidget in place; the rigidity of the ambiance was quite literally inflicting physical discomfort on him.

“So…” Celestia spoke up, garnering his attention suddenly, though the Solar Alicorn never so much as looked at him. “Anything that requires my immediate attention?”

“Ummm…” Fredrick searched through the stack of parchments he was given. “Not at the moment. Everything’s low priority today, thankfully.”

“Oh… okay then,” Celestia conceded, nodding as she went back to work. This was not okay, because if Celestia was going to lapse back into silence once more, Fredrick did not believe he would be able to bear it without having to step out for an extended period of time for fresh air.

Now or never, dude… time to take initiative.

“Celestia…” Fredrick began with a very specific tone in his voice that the alicorn in question picked up immediately; a tone that screamed ‘we need to talk.’

“I know, Fredrick… All three of us need to talk, and there’s some things I wish to say in front of both of you rather than just one of you at a time,” Celestia spoke softly though with some relief that the awkwardness was finally being addressed. The subtle shakiness in her normally confident and motherly tone suggested that she was quite unsure of what to say at certain parts but was still more than willing to speak on the subject. She placed her quill down and pushed her papers forward, folding her arms on her desk and finally meeting her eyes with Fredrick’s for the first time that day.

They certainly did not hold their usual happiness and fortitude; but rather doubt, worry, and shred of ambivalence.

“Okay… but can we start now?” Fredrick asked.

“I suppose so, but if you ask or allude to something specific, I may ask to defer it to our group conversation, is that okay?”

“Of course,” Fredrick affirmed, nodding eagerly at the prospect of getting some for-sure answers from the source.

“Very well,” Celestia began, taking a deep breath and exhaling as if it may have been her last. “Go right ahead.”

“Am I the only human in Equestria?” Fredrick started from the beginning, wishing to trace his theory out as much as possible.

“Yes, yes you are.”

“And it wasn’t the case that humans actually existed and are extinct or something?”

“What? No, not at all. You’re from an entirely different planet and dimension at that. There are and were no other bipedal creatures that matched up with you, ever,” Celestia stated resolutely. Fredrick was confident in this answer, because even as a Head of State needing the skills to wheel-and-deal, he knew for a fact that as a friend, Celestia would have no reason to twist the truth or lie to him.

“Alright. If that’s the case…” Fredrick began, knowing the next question he had to ask, but was not entirely sure if there was a more elegant way of phrasing it. “Know what? I’m gonna be cliché and say that there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m gonna just say it: how did you procure a ‘toy’ that happens to look quite on-point to a human penis?”

Celestia stared at him with the same, unfaltering gaze as if attempting to compile her words properly.

“Before I answer that, I must ask: has Luna spoken to you about she telling me ‘things?’”

“Mhmm. She’s told me about how you two hang out like normal sisters and just talk. In Luna’s case, she’s divulged telling you about our ‘escapades,’” Fredrick answered promptly. Celestia nodded.

“Very well, then to answer your question, after you returned from your weekend outing, anypony could blatantly see how much she was glowing. So, I confronted her about it and we had a rather vivid chat once I was able to get her comfortable. She described, in quite amazing, verbal detail, your penis and drew accurate comparisons and contrasts between yours and that of a stallion’s,” Celestia explained thoroughly, her tone conforming to one of business.

“So, my guess is that you, from that information, had a custom toy built?” Fredrick inferred and Celestia gave one, deep nod, almost looking ashamed.

“Okay… and one last question, I promise,” Fredrick began anew, though Celestia dismissed his concerns.

“It’s quite alright… answers must be forthcoming at this point anyway.”

“Do you h… umm…” Fredrick suddenly lost his words as he was confronted with asking the biggest question of them all. From the events the previous night, the idea of Celestia having feelings for him was the greatest possible implication resulting from the presence of a humanoid dildo.

“Do I…?”

“Do you… have an interest…” Fredrick began dragging out the separate parts of his sentence in an attempt to keep his will steady, as well as to not look like a presumptuous asshole as much as possible. “…in me?”

Celestia was silent once more, and likewise, her demeanor never changed. The two held their eyes glued to each other for what seemed like an hour but in the end, Celestia found her words… and her ears flattened against her head as she sunk lower.

“I’m not confirming nor denying anything… but I would much rather answer that in front of Luna as well, because she has the same question.”

“How do you know?” Fredrick asked, curious at the developments at hand. This heart-to-heart may not have been the most ideal, but the awkward ambiance had certainly subsided, if only marginally.

“We, naturally, see each other when we alter the positioning of the Sun and Moon in the sky. We had a similar but much briefer conversation and I told her the same: I’d rather speak with you both on certain matters, together, like the adults we are,” she said, though with more confidence this time around. Fredrick was more than okay with having an immediate answer for two out of his three questions, and was content with waiting for the final answer at a later date. Before he could say anything further, Celestia spoke up once more:

“I’ve arranged with Luna to speak with her on this matter tomorrow evening, sometime around eight, and she asked that I relay that proposition to you. Does that suit your schedule?”

“Oh yeah, that’s perfect,” Fredrick answered again, nodding vehemently.

However, one thing remained and it bothered him to no end.

“Thanks for being patient with me and… whatever happens I just don’t want it to ruin any of our relationships. Please, I just don’t want to ever have things be this awkward between us ever again and I’m sorry for participating in that prank, just in case you’re mad at me for that,” Fredrick spilled his own feelings on the matter, realizing it was it was time to stop interrogating Celestia. It was his turn to offer some of his thoughts. Celestia, unexpectedly got up from her desk and quickly sauntered her way over to him.

Fredrick stood up as she did but was surprised to feel himself enveloped in a hug, one that made him feel that no dynamic between them had changed so far, and was confident that whatever was revealed later would be of no consequence to their relationship either. He eagerly reciprocated the gesture and buried his cheek into Celestia’s neck.

“Despite this, it was a genuine ‘Luna-esque’ prank that you took part in. We have done much worse to each other and I won’t have you moping around about it, okay?” Celestia consoled, holding him that much tighter. He didn’t even care that her perfect bust was pressing into his chest for once. Only their friendship mattered at this moment.

“Alright… thanks, Celestia.”

“All is well Fredrick… though it’s a shame that you did not heed my warning. You are officially a legitimate target in our ongoing prank war,” the alicorn declared, and at that moment, Fredrick’s eyes shot open as his pupils shrank.

“Oh…”

“Oh yes… Once we square this away, I would recommend being on your guard,” Celestia cautioned, a distinct sense of foreboding seeping through her much lighter-hearted words.

Well, I’ll really be fucked now.

Despite the rather ominous warning that Celestia issued, both of them separated and shared genuine smiles, happy to get back to work. The two silently agreed to address any other concerns the following evening and resolved to not let such matters get in the way of their normally productive cooperation and overall dynamic. Even though he knew things would be just fine, Fredrick still could not help but worry about the potential implications of a specific answer to that ultimate question. If it was a yes, what would change? If it was a no… would things still be the same?

At least, for right now, things seemed no worse for wear, and no matter what, Fredrick truly hoped that the status quo would be realized and reestablished.

“Excuse me good sir,” Fredrick got the attention of a guard he approached outside his room. “Is Stella on duty tonight?”

“Yes, sir. She’s by the archway entrance to the Castle Gardens,” the seemingly young guard replied, gesturing down the corridor.

“Ah so she’s still there. Thanks!” Fredrick punctuated his gratitude with a friendly wave as he took off down the hall, choosing an appropriate path through the castle that he had taken numerous times in the past. The entire layout of the castle was essentially sewn into his brain by this point from all the errands he had to run on Celestia’s behalf. While he always admired the décor and overall ambiance that the castle exuded, Fredrick paid his surroundings little mind as he power-walked to his destination, one which he came to after only a few minutes. Near the exit to the Gardens like the previous night, he spied Stella standing tall and garbed in her armor, though this time, there was another guard on the right side of the arch.

“Fredrick??” Stella called out, surprised to see him in the same area two nights in a row. Moreover, his posture and initial demeanor seemed off from what she was used to, leading her to conclude that something seemed wrong before he could even flag her down. “The hell’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve shat out your own twin.”

“Eh, things are a little weird right now, which is why I came to see you. I just need to vent a bit if you don’t mind,” Fredrick admitted as he approached the guardsmare, his hand in his coat pockets. Stella nodded curtly and turned to her comrade by the other side of the arch.

“Mystic, I’m taking an early break. Watch my post,” she declared, removing her helmet and holding it under her left arm. Fredrick did not understand the absence of helmet hair on her, as her mane bounced back to its well-maintained form.

“My name’s not Mystic, it’s Radiance,” the other guard replied, irritated.

“Oh, I apologize,” Stella asserted. “I’ll be sure to remember that for the future. Mystic, watch my post.”

“Why?” Radiance asked incredulously, rolling her eyes at Stella’s blatant snubbing. “Ordering me won’t work, we’re the same rank.”

Stella glared at her for a few moments, her expression not changing from its stoic complexion at all, but Fredrick knew better.

“You watch my goddamn post for half an hour or I’ll give you a fuckin’ spine-ectomy.”

Radiance rolled her eyes and resumed her attentive, rigid posture once more, silently relenting to Stella’s words. The latter felt no need to follow up and looked to Fredrick.

“Let’s take a walk…” she voiced, beckoning him out towards the garden with a tilt of her head. The two immediately fell into step at the close of her sentence. “Now, why don’t you tell Stella what has your panties all up in your anus.”